Kate's First Halloween

Our very own pumpkin patch . . .

After dressing Kate up, we took the opportunity to meet some of our neighbors. We figured Halloween is a good night, since everyone is home and ready to answer the door. It was really nice getting to know the folks on our street. Plus, it was fun showing Kate off!

"a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord"

Kate and I enjoyed the wonderful weather we've been having by window shopping this afternoon with my friend Sunee and her daughter Adelaide (who is 6 weeks older than Kate). When we got home, this is what we found in the backyard:

Seems our dog Toby has discovered that there's all sorts of tasty treats in the trash can in our garage and that he can sneak these goodies through the doggie door to the backyard.

Caught like a rat...or should I say, Templeton?

Colonel Sanders, I think you've got a critic:

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we visited a pumpkin patch at a local church. Kate was very intrigued by all those big orange things. We picked out a pumpkin and plan to carve it next week to help celebrate her first Halloween.

Comedy Hour

Kate smiles, squeals, and makes happy noises, but she has yet to let out a real belly laugh. I know she'll do it eventually, but hearing other people's babies the same age or younger belt out laughter just makes me want to hear it from our own little sweet pea. So, my mission these days is to give Kate plenty of opportunities to launch into hysterics. Here's video of me tickling her with an elephant puppet to earn some giggles.

Another tooth!

This morning while playing with Kate, I noticed more white than usual poking through her bottom gums. I looked, and sure enough--there's a second tooth coming in! It's right next to the first one (bottom, center). It's no wonder she chews on everything in sight!

On another topic, although Kate still pretty much hates tummy time, she is getting better at it. She doesn't push up very high--I think she's learned she has more balance by keeping her arms spread out (see picture below). But, at least she's going for longer stretches without having a meltdown. She's also turning over from her back to her tummy a lot now. It still surprises me to put her down one way and look back and see her flipped!

A tooth!

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, we have been wondering if Kate is teething. All the telltale signs were there: fussiness, chewing on everything in sight, drooling, etc.--but as a first-time mom I just wasn't sure if I was reading too much into things. Well, turns out our instincts were right. Kate has a tooth coming in! I felt a little ridge on her gums yesterday, and when I took a peek there was a little white sliver poking out. It made me stop for a moment and realize just how quickly she's growing up. It seems like her development has gone into hyper-drive over the last few weeks: sitting up, rolling over, eating solids, and now a tooth! I've always heard parents talk about kids "growing up so fast," but I suppose you never really appreciate how true that is until you observe it first hand.

New Milestones

Kate is now able to sit up by herself! She is still pretty wobbly, but she's getting better at it everyday. We usually keep the boppy pillow around her to avoid crashing into the ground, but pretty soon she won't need the extra support. Here she is playing with some toys:

She loves to chew on links:

The other big milestone that just happened last night is that Kate rolled over from her back to her tummy! She was on her playmat on her back, and I turned around to do something on the computer. When I looked back, she had rolled over. Wow! Our little munchkin is growing up. She'll be mobile before we know it.

First Solid Food

Today is Kate's 5 month birthday! We decided to try her first "solid" food, rice cereal with breast milk, to see how she'd take to it. Josh happened to be working from home today and was able to take pictures of this adventure. Kate ate from the spoon pretty well. It took her a few tries to understand what to do with it, and of course most of the food wound up on her face, but she kept opening her mouth for more and finished the bowl off (about 1 teaspoon cereal and 2 tablespoons milk). I think she was actually more enthralled with the green "frog" bowl than the food ... nevertheless, it was definitely a success.

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving*

Josh turned 30 yesterday, and we had some friends over this weekend to celebrate. Josh seems to be taking this milestone in stride...probably much better than I will when it is my turn next year. They say 30 is the new 20. I think Josh would agree with that, except when he comes home from flag football complaining about aches he's never felt before. :-) Having now known Josh for half his life, I can say that being 30 and a new dad really becomes him. Besides, I think graying temples are cute!

*from the movie "13 Going On 30," in case you were wondering

Jumping Baby

We bought a used doorway jumper for Kate, and she seems to really enjoy it. I've saved quite a bit of money by purchasing baby toys (exersaucer, playgym, bike trailer, and now a jumper) off of craig's list. Baby items are used for such a short period of time, it makes sense to me to buy second hand and let someone else pay the high retail cost. Here's a pic & video of Kate jumping away.